New 52 Week 4 (Final Week)

Well, yesterday was the final release of the new 52 #1's. There's no way I can review all 12 of the ones that were released yesterday in full format without lots of extra space, so I thought I'd devote a brief paragraph to each title this week.

Green Lantern New Guardians #1 is kind of bizarre and I don't know what to make of it yet in conjunction with Green Lantern #1, Red Lanterns #1, and Green Lantern Corps #1. The last we saw in Green Lantern #1 all of the guardians were fine except poor Ganthet who was getting weirdly blasted by his blue brethren. This book picks up with the guardians wiped out except for Ganthet, so my only supposition is that Ganthet won against whatever they were doing. Also, Kyle Rayner has never been a Green Lantern before according to this book. In the course of this book though, he becomes a green lantern (Ganthet hands him what he says is the last ring), and is also apparently chosen by the other six corps for membership by the rings themselves or their masters as a red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, and violet ring all show up for him by the end of the book. Where these rings come from is the interesting part and sets up the conflict for at least the next issue.
I think Tony Bedard did a good job on the story; I just want to know what's going on, so I'll definitely be reading more. The artwork by Tyler Kirkham is good although he seems to take more of a cartoonish style with this book cover, the interior is his typical style and the realism looks good in thsi title.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1 is awesome like all the relaunched Batman books. Gotham is a little more glitzy at times in this book, but then we get a little more of a glimpse of Bruce Wayne's world in this book then we have in other Batman books. The contrast between Bruce's world of light and Batman's world of darkness is well done by penciller David Finch and colorist Alex Sinclair. Batman remains true to his dark and gritty roots in this book as he does in all of the new Batman books and Paul Jenkins writes well. This issue was only the beginning as we can see with the final page showing a newly empowered Two-Face. Batman is very much the Dark Knight in this book as can be seen when he shows up at a riot going on at Arkham and states plainly, "Sixty-five men. Sixty-five families. You can tell me what happened later. Right now, why don't we try to give your men trapped inside a fighting chance?" Excellent book!

Justice League Dark #1 is an insane book; I mean really, half the characters are either insane or walkign the edge of a knife and about to fall. I love Zatanna's redesigned look; I think it hearkens back to the old, but finally dresses her in a way more befitting of her status as a sorceress super-hero. Madame Xanadu's look in this book is also spectacular and is much like Zatanna's, hearkening to her previous incarnation's look, but modernized just the right amount. No one else really gets a re-design in this book, but what could you really do with Constantine or Shade? The artwork throughout the book by Mikel Janin really works for this book as it moves from the macabre, to the creepy, to the dark (the Batcave), to the bright (the Justice League) and everything in between. Peter Milligan's story is awesome and while I liked the previous version of Enchantress (she was a hero the last time we saw her before Flashpoint), I love this new setup with her being stark raving mad and about to destroy the world because of it. Normally, this would be a job for the Justice League, but we quickly see that they are not well suited to this task and thus DC's major magic players (at least they seem to be setting them up to be the new major magic players) have to step up to the task somehow. If you are interested in DC's world of magic, I think this is the book you want to read to understand it all.

The Flash #1 is a slow story to start. This is definitely the beginning for the Flash and sets the new status quo for him. Let's start with the fact he is not married to Iris in the new DCU. The villains quickly step forward, the ring rapidly releases the suit and the Flash is still the fastest man, but this story starts at the beginning and only whets the appetite to know what's going on with Barry Allen's old friend Manuel, who is killed early on in the book only to show up later still alive, but there's definitely a story and you get to the basics of it by the end. Excellent job by Francis Manapul and I look forward to reading more.

Superman #1 is the status quo set up for Superman in the current continuity of the new DCU, unlike Action Comics, which is 5 years before current continuity. Like with the Flash, we find that there is no Lois and Clark here. They are not married and Clark is the loner that he started out as trying to avoid getting too close to people due to his secret. Unlike in the final days of continuity of the previous DCU, Clark is still on top of his game as a reporter here and not lapsing so much with the Superman job taking up too much time. Metropolis is his city, and he works hard to protect it. Another big change, is the Daily Planet building of old is demolished early on in the story and replaced by a new ultra modern building with a new owner who resembles Rupert Murdoch in attitude. There is a slight tie in to Stormwatch here and Jesus Merino does an excellent job on the redesigned costume and making Clark and Lois both look younger without taking away their maturity. The story is well written by George Perez and I can't wait to see what's next for the Man of Steel.

Teen Titans #1 is not at all what I expected, and I love it. I love the new costume designs for all of the Teen Titans characters and most of them are the ones the series finished with. Red Robin is here, Wondergirl is here (though you shouldn't call her that; she takes it badly for some reason), Kid Flash is here. Superboy is not really here yet, but he makes his cameo at the end and from his own book, we know he'll be here next issue. Of all the redesigns I have to say I like Wondergirl's the best. It's reminiscent of Donna Troy from the eighties with the sparkly black thing, but also keeps elements of Cassie's original look. So much better than the more casual look she had in the previous series. The story ties in closely to the Superboy book (I already told you to go read it), and N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is out to take out the teen meta-humans of the new DCU. This is what sparks the formation of the Teen Titans here, not the position of the characters as the teenage sidekicks of older heroes as of old. I already hate N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and I don't even know that much about them. The book looks like it will continue to be the best teen superhero book out there, especially with no Runaways series out right now. Kudos to writer Scott Lobdell and penciller Brett Booth for breathing new life into the Teen Titans all over again!!

Aquaman #1 is just WOW!!! I have to admit that I'm one of those people who made fun of Aquaman throughout the years. I mean come on, you know you did too; most of us have said, "Oooh, he can talk to fish." This book takes no prisoners of those of us who have made Aquaman into a joke for decades. My friend Nina, who is an Aquaman fan, will love this book! When I finished this book, not only was I ashamed of all the jokes I made about Aquaman (writer Geoff Johns takes off the gloves and hits everyone of us below the belt for those jokes in this issue), but I saw the hero who does belong in the Justice League. There is nothing else you can say, when Aquaman stands right in front of a stolen armored truck as the crooks inside laugh about it and how they're just going to run him down. All of us naysayers, the crooks most of all, are stunned when Aquaman throws his triden forward and spears the armored car like a charging lion and flips it over his head. It doesn't get any better for the crooks, but it does for us, when the crooks get out and take a few shots at Aquaman only to learn that although he's not bullet proof, he does have incredibly thick skin and a little nick is all he gets from the shots.
This is the Aquaman I've wanted for years. I hope Johns keeps up the good work and continues to build Aquaman into the character he always should have been. And lest I forget, Ivan Reis does an excellent job with the art.

The Savage Hawkman #1 is awesome, but I'm not sure Hawkman is going to make it past issue 2 with the ending here. The Nth metal harness with wings strapped to Carter Hall's back is gone very quickly in this comic. The Nth metal appears to have at least a partial sentience and this is a new Hawkman and the brutal streak of old is back. This is a Hawkman who will fight to the bloody end. I loved the comic and the way Hawkman's powers work now are just stunning. The new direction that Tony S. Daniel has taken the charater in holds fast to the roots of the character while modernizing him and moving him forward at the same time. Carter is set to be awesome and Philip Tan's pencils make him look as awesome as Daniel writes him.

The Furty of Firestorm #1 is a book that I really didn't think I was going to like. The story is kind of split at first as we follow a group of what seem to be CIA or military operatives of some kind trying to track down what I assumed to be weapons at first, and Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch in high school. The story quickly comes together a little past the halfway point when you learn the operatives are not what they seemed to be and they are hunting for the Firestorm matrix (or at least the final one; they've apparently already recovered all but one of them). Towards the end, we learn that Jason has the last one and we finally see both Firestorms and what they join together to become in the final single page spread. Gail Simone writes this wonderful book and proves once again that she can weave an excelletn story. Ethan van Sciver co-plots, so he deserves some of that credit as well as well as for the excellent cover. Yildiray Cinar does an excelletn job with the artwork inside the book, and I loved this book from beginning to end. I can't wait to see where it goes from here and who the secret person in the background is trying to gather up the firestorm matrices for their own purposes.

I, Vampire #1 is another book I thought I wouldn't like. In this case, I'm not sure I was wrong yet. The story is about a boy and his girlfriend. He's a vampire who made her into a vampire 400 years ago. Now, they've had a disagreement; she wants to conquer the world and use the human race as food while he wants to live in peace with humans. She's raised an army, and he has decided to stand against it. The vampire mythos is changed slightly by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, but at it's hear it's still a noble and honorable vampire versus the rest of the evil blood sucking race story. The artwork by Andrea Sorrentino works really well for this book and I loved the dark tones used by colorist Marcelo Mailo, they really brought the horror nature of the book home. I'm not sure I'll pick any more of this series, but if you are a fan of the vampire horror genre, you should pick it up. It's done well and you'll probably like it.

Black Hawks #1 is yet another book I didn't think I would like. So far, I was wrong. The Blackhawks are a special covert military organization set up by the UN to deal with any and all threats necessary (normal and meta-human it would seem). The story hearkens back to the earliest days of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. comics when they were the Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage, and Law-enforcement Division and combines it with DC's own Checkmate to create an organization that is all human (to start with at least), but is definitely playing in a world dominated by meta-humans with super technology that we can only imagine. Writer Mike Costa sets the stage quickly for the purpose of the group, how it works, and reveals the enemy behind the scenes for the organization and leaves us with the cliff hanger we didn't expect at the end (at least I didn't expect it). If you liked S.H.I.E.L.D. in the '70s or Checkmate before Maxwell Lord took over, you'll want to get this series.

All Star Western #1 is the one book I didn't know how I would feel about. I've never been a Jonah Hex follower and this is his book. The catch in this first arc though is that Hex has come to Gotham City of old to help catch a serial killer who is definitely on par with Gotham's nature. Hex is the same character he has always been although he doesn't seem to have the ability to garner information from the dead (but maybe that was a movie power and not what he was really capable of in the comics; never read any Jonah Hex before, so I don't really know). Hex is joined by Grandpa Arkham in this arc and he quickly learns that Gotham was corrupt long before the days of Bruce Wayne or even Bruce Wayne's father, although mention is made of Bruce's grandfather as well as the other players from the limited series just finished, "The Gates of Gotham"; excellent tie in for continuity to the rest of the new DCU and even the old. If you're a fan of Jonah Hex, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are still writing Jonah Hex the way you like him. Moritat's pencils are good though details on the crowd shots are sparse, and the sepia tones that colorist Gabriel Bautista uses really work well for a western genre story. Jonah Hex is firmly entrenched in the DCU with this issue, and I'll be following at least for a little while to see what happens in this arc.

That's all for tonight. Thanks again for reading.